ZYanksRule
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Third conference final in five seasons. Put some damn respect on this organization.
2025 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
It is amazing. And it also raises the question of what if they filled all the slots?
ZYanksRule
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Yes. I think if we're all being honest, we've arrived a year earlier than expected. No one thought we'd be in the conference final this year.
This run is reminding me of the 2016 Sounders, who were middling for half the season before Nico Lodeiro signed, then lost only two games after the end of July en-route to winning MLS Cup.
Now we have Fernandez-Mercau playing that role for NYCFC. We may not finish with a star the way Seattle did, but this is exactly the scenario I was thinking about in the spring that could happen if we nailed that signing. And boy did we nail that signing.
We could have been right on schedule if they had actually filled the premium roster spots. The only reason this feels “a year early” is that they slow-roll signings across multiple seasons. And apparently, when they burn transfer resources on players like Jovan, the roster spot gets frozen until the entire situation is resolved.
You should never be “a year early” in MLS because multi-year rebuilds aren’t necessary. If you end a season either ahead or behind in your roster build, it means you didn’t maximize your potential. This league isn’t like other U.S. sports; there’s no excuse for wasting seasons.
Add on to that in 2026 we will be without Perea, I'm assuming likely no Keaton, likely losing Haak without a transfer fee, huge question mark on Alonso's return, Maxi will be 39. All of these things would be easier to manage and set up a strong 2026 if we already had a 3rd strong DP and had plans for a next DP after Martins comes off his DP contract this winter. It's just frustrating to watch what are essentially self inflicted wounds.
Now upside is that I expect a lot of growth in the next year from Shore, Reid, Ojeda has shown well of late. Hopefully Grey and KOT continue to develop. Hopefully Hannes and Nico build a strong partnership next year.
So I'm not doom and gloom. I just wish the team's actions matched their rhetoric about competing seriously for titles. I'm certainly hopeful we win 2 more matches. And we could. But that would be well against the odds. I'd like to see the team set us up for better odds than we have now.
With Alonso out for likely most, if not all of next season, I'm interested to see what they do with the ST position. Do they bring in a high-quality replacement? If so, what happens when Alonso comes back? Are they going to have a solution in place to start the season or will we have to diddle around with Nico out of position for half a season?
Crazy option, will they bring back Jovan to bridge the gap? Honestly, we could have used him for depth this season. Why does the team waste $8.5M on a guy and then, because he's a whiney baby, we have to send him to sit on a bench in Belgium while holding our U22/DP spot? This whole loaning out players but not backfilling their roster spot until they are sold is by far the most disappointing thing CFG does. Sometimes players like Jovan don't work out, that's fine, but cut your losses and move on, don't sandbag mutliple seasons. If we can't use the roster spot and you won't sell them, just keep them around for depth.
Crazy option, will they bring back Jovan to bridge the gap? Honestly, we could have used him for depth this season. Why does the team waste $8.5M on a guy and then, because he's a whiney baby, we have to send him to sit on a bench in Belgium while holding our U22/DP spot? This whole loaning out players but not backfilling their roster spot until they are sold is by far the most disappointing thing CFG does. Sometimes players like Jovan don't work out, that's fine, but cut your losses and move on, don't sandbag mutliple seasons. If we can't use the roster spot and you won't sell them, just keep them around for depth.
the smart thing to do is go out and get a DP #9 or winger and use reid as your #9. we can't rely on alonso coming back and can't expect him to be the same player when he comes back either. if he does, GREAT. we'll have two strong options at the #9 and more flexibility. We'll also hopefully have Jones back and we'll have to wait and see if he is anything like we were starting to see before his injury.
i think parks should be back next year and hopefully without anymore injuries to deal with. he was having one of his best seasons in 2025.
perea will likely not return next year depending on how his recovery goes. could be another jones situation. could be a lot better.
if they let haak go on a free, this club is stupid. i really don't think jansen wants that to happen either.
don't think the club wants anything to do with jovan and magno anymore.
ZYanksRule
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This is true. All of these comments above I agree with. However, we're in our third conference final in 5 seasons, so I'm choosing to be optimistic and happy. This doesn't happen every day.
There's definitely reasons to worry about next year. We still don't know who the acting sporting director is or who will assume that role when the season ends within the next 12 days. We don't know how that transition will impact recruitment for next year. We don't know if Maxi will hang 'em up after this season or try to play another year.
But at this point, we're clearly doing something right. Even as frustrating as some of our decisions have been, teams in this league don't go to 3 conference finals in 5 seasons. I think, at this point, the team deserves the benefit of the doubt a little bit because this is quite a run we're on since 2021. Could it be better? Sure. Could the organization make more moves to help improve their chances? Absolutely. But they can't do much better than these results the last five seasons.
You know what? Much respect.
This is a time for unbridled joy. We just knocked out Philly with 4 key players out. Fuck yeah!
Conference finals on Saturday with a chance to win a piece of hardware. Fuck yeah again!!
Critiques can wait until the season is over. Thank you for the reminder to just be happy.
Marito
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I have seen a quote by him somewhere saying that they are much closer than they were in terms of numbers
What happened?
After the win, he was the first one that came over the supporters. Was pointing to this crest on his kit. Just really pumped up.
i mean, these are literally the only two options on the table no?
I look forward to the day when it's a better option for guys like Haak and Sands to stay in MLS rather than leave to play for mid- or bottom-table Bundesliga teams or places like Rangers.
The league is likely decades away from competing to keep top-tier American players like Pulisic, but getting to a point where it is better for a guy like Sands to stay home feels like an achievable near-term goal for the league.
The hope would have been if that could be true after the 2026 World Cup but the league hasn't built enough changes and improves for that since they knew the 2026 World Cup would be in USA/CAN/MEX...Likely more by the 2028/29 season, the second schedule with the changed schedule.
ZYanksRule
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Some news from Roberto Abramowitz on his podcast with Glenn Crooks tonight:
Andres Perea expects to return at the start of next season, or maybe just slightly after the start of the season.
Alonso Martinez is only an ACL, no other ligaments are damaged. His return is expected to be after the World Cup.
Andres Perea expects to return at the start of next season, or maybe just slightly after the start of the season.
Alonso Martinez is only an ACL, no other ligaments are damaged. His return is expected to be after the World Cup.
ezbeezy214
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So the question is a back 5 with Shore keeping his spot and Wolf/Ojeda (I think it would be Ojeda as O’Toole will effectively play LW) as the man out for O’Neill or having Haak partner with O’Neill.
Gotta say, I’m feeling pretty confident either way.
Gotta say, I’m feeling pretty confident either way.
ZYanksRule
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I think he keeps Haak partnered with Martins. I think Gustavo was such a beast at FB he stays there and either Shore or O’Toole sit for Aidan.
Def this. Gustavo will be crucial. Shore was great but I think he sits for AON.
